ON SEVERAL SUBJECTS. SERMONS ON PUBLIC OCCASIONS. AND A TRACT. BY WILLIAM PALEY, D. D. 1 LONDON: PRINTED FOR THOMAS TEGG, CHEAPSIDE; G. AND J. ROBINSON; G. OFFOR; AND J. EVANS AND CO.: ALSO, 1823. UNIVERSITY OF LIBRARY APR 14 $24 Retd. U of M. 10. Part 1. To think less of our Virtues and more of our Sins 98 11. Part 2. To think less of our Virtues and more of our Sins 109 12. Salvation for Penitent Sinners 13. Sins of the Fathers upon the Children........ 20. The Efficacy of the Death of Christ consistent with the Necessity of a good Life; the one being the Cause, the other the Condition of Salvation......................... 2782 Of Spiritual Influence in general............................................ 216 Of Spiritual Influence in general................ 224 Of Spiritual Influence in general...................................... 232 Sin encountered by Spiritual Aid..................................... 243 31. The Terrors of the Lord......... 32. Preservation and Recovery from Sin ....... 33. This Life a State of Probation........................... 4. The Use and Propriety of local and occasional Preaching 365 5. Dangers incidental to the Clerical Character stated........ 389 Observations upon the Character and Example of Christ, and the Morality of the Gospel................................ SERMONS. I. SERIOUSNESS IN RELIGION INDISPENSABLE ABOVE ALL OTHER DISPOSITIONS. 1 PETER, iv. 7. Be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer., THE first requisite in religion is seriousness. No impression can be made without it. An orderly life, so far as others are able to observe us, is now and then produced by prudential motives, or by dint of habit; but without seriousness there can be no religious principle at the bottom, no course of conduct flowing from religious motives; in a word, there can be no religion. This cannot exist without seriousness upon the subject. Perhaps a teacher of religion has more difficulty in producing seriousness amongst his hearers than in any other part of his office. Until he succeed in this, he loses his labour: and when once, from any cause whatever, a spirit of levity has taken hold of a mind, it is next to impossible to plant serious considerations in that mind. It is seldom to be done, except by some great shock or alarm, sufficient to make a radical B |